Television prompting apparatus



April 21, 1953 F. H. BARKAU TELEVISION PROMPTING APPARATUS Filed April21. 1949 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 IN VEN TOR.

Fred ll Barifaa April 21, 1953 F. H. BARKAU TELEVISION PROMPTINGAPPARATUS 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed April 21, 1949 amssme 5263558 wtz: 12

I N V EN TOR. Fred J1 fia rjfdlt N La mwmm um ll WI: 23 M4025 mum/310mJWDOD 2. P200 W-CZD M4025 mm wm A ril 21, 1953 F. H. BARKAU 2,635,373

TELEVISION PROMPTING APPARATUS Filed April 21, 1949 I 5 Sheets-Sheet 3IMHIHIHWHM.I.... IIHIEHMM.|.....

m INVENTOR. Fred 15/. Bariiaa WWW Patented Apr. 21, 1953 TELEVISIONPROMPTING APPARATUS Fred H. Barkau, New York, N. Y., assignor toTeleprompter Corporation, New York, N. Y., a

corporation of New York Application April 21, 1949 Serial No. 88,866

. l a My present invention relates to apparatus for use out of range ofthe cameras in a television or-motion picture studio for prompting orcon tinuously presenting to the performers view the running script ofthe dialogue or narrative being telecast or filmed.

The televisin'g and broadcasting of a play or the like usually requiresseveral weeks of rehearsing, since the participants must memorize theirlines as the reading of script held in the hand,

or voice prompting from the wings of the studio.

cannot be resorted to. Moreover, the performers must also make' certainas to the time consumed in reciting their lines so that the performancewill be completed within a'definite program period. The rehearsalsrequire the presence of the performers, directors, the studio personnneland the depending on the voice dialogue of the performers, and also toreverse the movement of the script for the purpose of rewinding the sameor making corrections thereon during rehearsals. A still furtherobjectis to provide a plurality of such apparatus and means for theirsimultaneous remote control. A"-'still further object is to provide suchapparatus which may be projected onto a screen and still retain thefeatures of selective remote control above set forth.

The foregoing and other objects of my invention not specifically setforth and the manner and means by which they are realized will be better understood from the detailed description which follows whenconsidered in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein;

Figure l is afront elevation of an apparatus embodying my invention,parts thereof being broken away to better illustrate constructionaldetails thereof. I I n Fig. 2 is a section taken substantially along thetrical wiring connections for control of the apparatus.

3 Claims. (01. 4Il53) Fig. 4 is a top plan view of another embodiment ofmy invention employing a projection apparatus.

Fig. 5 is a side elevational view of a detail of the apparatus shown inFig. 4.

Referring first to Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings, the apparatuscomprises a substantially rectangular casing in having a sight openingII in the front face thereof past which strip material I2 containingintelligence is adapted to be positively moved in either direction,either continuously or intermittently, as will be hereinafter more fullydescribed, The strip material adjacent its edge portions is formed withequally spaced openings I3 which are adapted to engage over teeth I4 ona roller I5 mounted Within the casing, preferably adjacent the topthereof, the said roller being adapted to be driven through a frictionclutch I6, H, the member I! of which is a pulley adapted to be driven bya belt I8 from motor driven means I9 of a speed reducer 20 which,inturn, is operated by an electric motor 2| mounted on a bracket 22supported on an intermediate upright wall 23 within the casing I0.The-opposite ends of the strip material I2 are detachably secured in anypreferred manner to a pair of rolls 24, 25 which are removably supportedin the casing II! by havingone end thereof mounted in bearings 21 whichare held in the intermediate wall 23 by screws 28 and having at theirother ends recesses 29 in which engage lugs 30. To render said rollsremovable from the casing, the lugs 30 are carried by stub shafts,

3| which are urged into engaging position by springs 32 and said stubshafts are movable to permit disengagement of the rollsby knobs 33.-Each of the stub shafts 3I is provided with a unidirectional clutch 31aof a character such as to positively drive the respective rolls 24, 25when they are acting as wind-up rolls and to permit free rotation ofsaid rolls when they act as payout rolls. The rolls 24 and 25 are drivenby a common belt 34 engaging over pulleys 24a and 25a mounted on stubshafts 3|, said belt being trained over a pulley 35 mounted on the shaftof the roller I5 and driven by said pulley through the medium of afriction clutch 35. The strip material moves over a backing plate Ma andmoves over guide rollers Illb The frame I0 may be suitably mounted upona telescoping standard 31 when the device is to be supported on thefloor or upon a base support, and with a strap 38 when the device is tobe suspended. For illuminating the face of the strip material I2 as itmoves past the sight opening I I there is provided suitable illuminatingmeans 39. v I

tem of wiring for control of the solenoids similar to that hereinbeforedescribed may be employed. Of course, a plurality of projection devicescan be used in a manner quite analogous to that hereinbefore described.Should it be found necessary to delete any of the script from the film,the same can be accomplished by viewing the film as it passes over thebacking plate 14 and the necessary deletion made on said film by meansconventionally used for removing parts from the coated surface of aphotographic film.

The apparatus of Figs. 4 and 5 may be suitably mounted on a stand orbaseboard 11 or maybe disposed at fixed locations in the televisionstudio so that the projected script material will be visible andreadable on one or more screens i8 by the performers from theirrespective stations, While said screens are out of direct range of thecameras. Without showing the wiring connections to the projectingapparatus or plurality of such apparatuses where used, I have,nevertheless, shown a control panel 19, by the, control of the buttons80 on which the various operations of selectively moving the strip filmcan be accomplished.

While I have shown and described two embodiments of my invention, itwill be understood that changes in the specific constructional detailsof the apparatus and in the electrical wiring connections may beresorted to within the range of mechanical and electrical engineeringskill without departing from the spirit of my invention as defined inthe appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. A script display unit comprising a frame, a shaft journaled withinthe frame, a driving roll coupled to the shaft, a continuously rotatablemotor, means including a friction clutch coupling the motor to theshaft, two projections aifixed substantially diametrically oppositely tothe shaft, two pawls pivotally arranged in the frame in positionalternately to engage said projections, one of said pawls being springloaded to a position out of reach of said projections and the other ofsaid pawls being spring loaded to a position within reach of saidprojections, and separately operable solenoids coupled to said pawls.

2. A prompting system comprising a plurality of script display units, amaster control unit, and flexible galvanic electrical control circuitsconnected between said control unit and each of said display unitspermitting disposition of said display units at will with respect tosaid control unit, each of said display units including a script drivingroll, a motor, and a coupling between said motor and said roll; saidcontrol unit including a master control controlling rotation of thescript driving rolls in all of said display units together and aplurality of individual display unit controls each controlling rotationof the script driving roll in one of said display units, said controlsoperating via said control circuits.

3. A prompting system comprising a plurality of script display units, amaster control unit, and fiexible galvanic electrical control circuitsconnected between said control unit and each of said display unitspermitting disposition of said display units at will with respect tosaid control unit, each of said display units including a script drivingroll, a motor, and a coupling between said motor and said roll; saidcontrol unit including a master control controlling the couplings in allof said display units together and a plurality of individual displayunit controls each controlling rotation of the script driving roll inone of said display units, said controls operating via said controlcircuits.

FRED H. BARKAU.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS-

